China harassed Tiananmen Square dissident running for US Congress, prosecutors say
- The target was not identified in court documents, but fits the description of former protester Xiong Yan
- Chinese government agent Qiming Lin allegedly asked a private investigator to help manufacture a political scandal to undermine the candidate
United States prosecutors unveiled charges against a Chinese national on Wednesday over an alleged scheme backed by Beijing to pressure a former pro-democracy protester out of running for Congress.
The indictment, brought in a federal court in New York with assistance from counter-intelligence officials, accused Chinese national Qiming Lin of plotting to fabricate derogatory information about the victim, and even have him physically assaulted.
Prosecutors did not name the target of those efforts, but their description of him closely matched Xiong Yan, a former student leader of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 who later joined the US military as a chaplain and is now running for a US congressional seat in New York.
Citing a source familiar with the case, The New York Times confirmed Xiong to be the victim.
Prosecutors said 59-year-old Lin, who remains at large, worked on behalf of Beijing’s Ministry of State Security (MSS). If convicted, he faces a minimum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Reached on Wednesday, Xiong said he was unable to comment on any of the facts in the case as he had not heard of the indictment until its release on Wednesday. But speaking in general terms, he said it was “wrong” that anyone should try to silence someone running for public office.
“I’m running for Congress – that’s my constitutional right,” said Xiong, who had just returned to the US from a visit to Ukraine to show support for the Eastern European country that has been under assault by Russia’s military for weeks.